City observes complete shutdown
“It is sad that no unity is being seen among the farmer unions in Punjab. There are some leaders who are on the side of the government and then there are others who are supporting the farmers’ movement and our leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal,” said Kulwinder Singh, the district president of BKU Ekta Sidhupur today as farmer unions gathered at Dhanowali village and blocked the NH-1.
The call for “Punjab Bandh” was given today by the farmer unions in support of Jagjit Singh Dallewal who has been on hunger strike for the last 35 days.
In the city, a complete bandh was witnessed today with shops being shut, markets closed and no means of transport operating. The farmers squatted and protested against the government, expressing their disappointment. Referring to Dallewal, a the farmers leader said, “Oh othe saade layi baithe hai, asi ethe ne ikathe ho sakde (Dallewal is sitting for us and is on fast-unto-death, can’t we gather here in large numbers to express our gratitude).”
Various speakers said that it was Dallewal who was in support of all the farmers.
Manjit Singh Rai, president of BKU (Doaba), also joined in the protest. “The way the government has taken a U- turn after agreeing to our demands, speaks of their motive. They are anti-farmer and we cannot let any wrong happen to us,” he said.
Passengers suffer
A train passenger from Jalandhar said that he was going to Roorkee with his wife. “Now, we are stranded here since morning. We don’t know when the train will start,” he said.
Ajith, another passenger from Thiruvananthapuram who was going to Pathankot, said it was getting difficult for him as he was with his one-year-old son. “He needs milk and we are already out of food items that we had got. We never knew that we will get stuck. There is no milk as well,” said the distressed father.
